奧巴馬的環境政績仰仗40年前舊環保法

WASHingTON — President Obama could leave office with the most aggressive, far-reaching environmental legacy of any occupant of the White House. Yet it is very possible that not a single major environmental law will have passed during his two terms in Washington.

華盛頓——奧巴馬總統可能會成爲入住白宮者中以最積極、最影響深遠的環境遺產卸任的人。然而，在他的兩個總統任期中，也有非常大的可能連一項環境立法都通不過。

Instead, Mr. Obama has turned to the vast reach of the Clean Air Act of 1970, which some legal experts call the most powerful environmental law in the world. Faced with a Congress that has shut down his attempts to push through an environmental agenda, Mr. Obama is using the authority of the act passed at the birth of the environmental movement to issue a series of landmark regulations on air pollution, from soot to smog, to mercury and planet-warming carbon dioxide.

奧巴馬取而代之的做法是，充分利用1970年通過的《清潔空氣法》，一些法律專家稱之爲世界上最強大的環境法律。面對阻止他推動環境議程之努力的國會，奧巴馬正在動用這項環保運動誕生時通過的法律的權威，來發布一系列針對空氣污染的具有里程碑意義的規定，從控制菸灰和霧霾，到控制汞和讓地球變暖的二氧化碳。

The Supreme Court could still overturn much of Mr. Obama’s environmental legacy, although the justices so far have upheld the regulations in three significant cases. More challenges are expected, the most recent of which was taken up by the court on Tuesday. The act, however, was designed by lawmakers in a Democratic Congress to give the Environmental Protection Agency, which was created at the same time, great flexibility in its interpretation of the law.

雖然最高法院仍可能會推翻許多奧巴馬遺留下來的環境規定，但是迄今爲止，大法官們在三個重要案件中都維持了這些規定。這些規定預計將面臨更多挑戰，其中最新的一個週二由最高法院處理。然而，《清潔空氣法》是民主黨控制下的國會立法者爲在法律解釋方面賦予同時成立的國家環境保護局(Environmental Protection Agency)極大的靈活性而設計的。

“It’s the granddaddy of public health and environmental legislation,” said Paul Billings, a vice president of the American Lung Association. “It empowers the E.P.A. and states to be bold and creative.”

“這是公衆健康和環境立法的鼻祖，”美國肺臟協會副會長保羅·比林斯(Paul Billings)說。“它賦予環保局及各州力量，讓它們變得大膽且有創造性。”

Gina McCarthy, the E.P.A. administrator, credits the act for the authority that Mr. Obama claims in setting environmental policy. “The administration is relying very heavily on this tool that Congress provided us 44 years ago,” she said.

環保局局長吉娜·麥卡錫(Gina McCarthy)把奧巴馬賴以制定環境政策的權威歸功於《清潔空氣法》。她說，“政府高度依賴國會44年前爲我們提供的這個工具。”

Jody Freeman, director of Harvard University’s environmental law program, and a former counselor to the president, said Mr. Obama was using the Clean Air Act “to push forward in a way that no president ever has.”

哈佛大學的環境法項目主任、總統的一位前顧問喬迪·弗里曼(Jody Freeman)說，奧巴馬用《清潔空氣法》“推進環保的方式，在總統中前所未有”。

Taken together, the Clean Air Act regulations issued during the Obama administration have led to the creation of America’s first national policy for combating global warming and a fundamental reshaping of major sectors of the economy, specifically auto manufacturing and electric utilities. The regulations could ultimately shut down existing coal-fired power plants, freeze construction of new coal plants and end demand for the nation’s most polluting fuel.

總地來說，奧巴馬執政期間頒佈的《清潔空氣法》規定讓美國首次制定了針對全球變暖的全國性政策，在根本上重新塑造了重要的經濟行業，尤其是汽車製造業和電力行業。這些規定可能最終導致現有燃煤發電廠的關閉，凍結新燃煤發電廠的建設，結束美國對這種污染最嚴重的燃料的需求。

Republicans and the coal industry have attacked the new rules as a “war on coal.”

共和黨人和煤炭工業已抨擊這些新規是“向煤炭宣戰”。

Mr. Obama’s most recent regulation, proposed on Wednesday, would curb factory and coal-plant emissions of ozone, a smog-causing pollutant linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death. That regulation is the latest of six new rules intended to rein in emissions of hazardous pollutants from factory and power-plant smokestacks, including soot, mercury, sulfur and nitrogen oxide.

奧巴馬週三提出的最新規定將減少工廠和燃煤發電廠的臭氧排放，臭氧是一種引起霧霾的污染物，與哮喘、心臟疾病和過早死亡有關。這項規定是旨在限制工廠和發電廠的煙囪排放有害污染物的六項規定之一，被限制的污染物還包括菸灰、汞、硫，以及氮氧化物。

The most consequential regulations are those that cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas dispersed from automobile tailpipes and coal plants and which contributes to global warming.

那些旨在減少二氧化碳排放的規定最爲重要，汽車排氣管和燃煤發電廠都排放這種導致全球變暖的氣體。

More rules are on the way: By the end of the year, the E.P.A. is expected to announce plans for regulating the emission of methane at natural gas production facilities.

還會有更多的規定出臺：環保局預計將在今年年底宣佈限制天然氣生產設施甲烷排放的計劃。

Republicans and industry leaders have fought back against the rules, attacking them as “job-killing” regulations. “The Clean Air Act is a direct threat,” said Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association.

共和黨人和工業領袖對這些規定進行了回擊，抨擊它們“扼殺工作機會”。美國國家礦業協會會長哈爾·奎因(Hal Quinn)說，“《清潔空氣法》是一個直接的威脅。”

Among the fiercest critics is Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who is expected to take over as majority leader in the next Congressional term and whose home state is a major producer of coal. Mr. McConnell has vowed to put forth legislation to block or delay the administration’s regulations.

批評者中最激烈的是肯塔基州共和黨參議員米奇·麥康奈爾(Mitch McConnell)，他預計將在下屆國會中接任多數黨領袖，他的家鄉是主要的煤炭生產地。麥康奈爾已發誓要用立法來阻止或延緩政府規定的實行。

Although the E.P.A. regulations are today the target of Republican ire, in 1970 the Clean Air Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, clearing the Senate with a vote of 73 to 0. President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican, signed the bill into law. “The idea was to give E.P.A. broad authority, making sure that it had tools to exercise this authority,” said Robert Nordhaus, an environmental lawyer who, as a staff lawyer in the House legislative counsel’s office, helped draft the law. Today Mr. Nordhaus is a senior partner at the environmental law firm Van Ness Feldman.

雖然環保局的規定如今是共和黨憤怒的目標，但在1970年，《清潔空氣法》得到了壓倒性的兩黨支持，以73對0的票數於參議院通過，共和黨人、理查德·尼克松總統將該法案簽署爲法律。“當時的想法是賦予環保局廣泛的權力，並確保它有行使這種權力的工具，”環保律師羅伯特·諾德豪斯(Robert Nordhaus)說，那時他作爲衆議院立法委辦公室的一個專職律師，協助起草了該法律。如今，諾德豪斯是環境律師事務所Van Ness Feldman的高級合夥人。

Another Republican president, the first George Bush, enacted a 1990 update to the Clean Air Act, which strengthened the E.P.A.’s authority to issue regulations. Mr. McConnell was among the 89 senators who voted for passage of the 1990 law. “I had to choose between cleaner air and the status quo,” Mr. McConnell said at the time. “I chose cleaner air.”

另一位共和黨總統，老喬治·布什(George Bush)，在1990年讓更新後的《清潔空氣法》生效，加強了環保局發佈規定的權威。麥康奈爾是1990年對通過該法律投了贊成票的89名參議員之一。 麥康奈爾在當時曾說，“我要在清潔空氣和現狀之間做出選擇。我選擇了更清潔的空氣。”

The 1990 iteration of the Clean Air Act also included requirements that the E.P.A. issue, and periodically update, regulations on pollutants such as ozone and mercury. Some of Mr. Obama’s new regulations are a result of that requirement.

1990年版的《清潔空氣法》還包括了要求環保局發佈並定期更新限制例如臭氧和汞等污染物的規定。奧巴馬的新規定中有些是這一要求的結果。

Mr. Obama, however, is the first president to use the law to fight global warming. After trying and failing to push a new climate-change law through Congress aimed at curbing greenhouse gas pollution, the president went back to the Clean Air Act.

但是，奧巴馬是第一位用《清潔空氣法》來對付全球變暖的總統。在推動國會通過一項新的氣候變化法律以限制溫室氣體排放的嘗試以失敗告終之後，總統回到了《清潔空氣法》。